0:08
This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys.
0:17
Visit vintagemnhockey.com.
0:32
Now, here's Cami, Vego and your host, Jupiter.
0:45
Welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 137.
0:53
Hammy's hopefully gonna join us a little bit.
0:55
He was finishing up some work things, but Vego, you're here, aren't you?
0:59
I sure am.
1:00
I'm excited to get going.
1:02
For those of you listening live, we've been having some technical difficulties for about the past 15 minutes.
1:07
Some weird Skype settings.
1:09
Started the show once, didn't quite work, because you know what, Veegs, I can't really talk to myself for a podcast.
1:14
It gets a little boring.
1:16
I think it would be for anyone.
1:20
Well, Veegs, a game in Vegas, and I wanted to quote somebody from the Mixler chat, because we know we have a lot of people listening on Mixler live.
1:29
He's not listening now, I don't think.
1:31
But on Saturday night, he came back to the Mixler chat and Jess0027 said this, that game sucked.
1:40
Never play in that clown arena again.
1:44
Team that wanted to win tonight won.
1:48
And that's pretty accurate, because the Gophers really didn't show up, especially for the last two and a half periods.
1:56
And what made it worse is that the ice was bad, the glass was bad, but one team sure played through it, and that was North Dakota.
2:03
Yeah, I thought Minnesota actually got off to a pretty decent start.
2:07
You know, they played to a scoreless first period, the shots were pretty even.
2:11
The Gophers got on the board first with the Gates Jr.
2:15
Power Play goal.
2:17
They got a fortunate bounce.
2:18
And after that point, it just kind of felt like the team didn't respond to the way North Dakota was playing.
2:26
It was almost like North Dakota said, all right, heck with this, we're going to get even more simple, we're going to get in their face, we're going to get bodies on bodies, we're going to put pucks deep, and Minnesota just never adjusted.
2:38
Even when they had chances to kind of take control of the game back, whether it was the ice or whatnot, they just got too cute, too fancy, couldn't make enough plays, and then North Dakota just took over and got away with the win.
2:51
Now, I'm kind of curious, but that game sure did feel quite a bit like how the team has played the last few years.
2:59
Yeah, it didn't even really take any prompting, but Bob Motzko referenced the Penn State Series as a series he didn't watch super closely or look back on super closely, but based on what he knew about that series of weekends, he thought that it was probably the same problem in that series of games as what the Gophers had in North Dakota.
3:21
I think he said that the players felt like they were driving a Ferrari and wanted to be fancy when what they needed was a tank.
3:29
And really sometimes that's what you need to do, is you need to simplify your game and just choose the select moments where your skill needs to show through.
3:36
And that's been a problem that the last coaching staff had to deal with.
3:40
This team likes to play a cute, fancy game and sometimes you just can't do that.
3:45
And that's where one thing where coaching does come in right in the middle of the game to try to get these guys to switch wrong.
3:50
And obviously we know that Monsko is new to these guys, it's probably going to take them a while to get the guys to buy in to changing the type of game they're playing on the fly.
4:02
And that's just kind of this whole learning process he's going through right now.
4:06
Well, it's figuring out how to get the message across, because I guarantee you that Genzel and Lucia were sending the same message to the program last year.
4:15
They were saying it till they're blue in the face.
4:17
And I think at one point Lucia said, you can only break out the cattle prod so often.
4:22
You know, you need these players to want to lead themselves to water.
4:26
You know, to use another cattle reference.
4:29
And they just, they couldn't do it.
4:31
And I think they know that they should have been doing that.
4:34
But just getting them to actually play that way is going to be a huge challenge this season.
4:39
Well, when you hear Wally Shaver say on the radio broadcast, this is a butt-ugly performance.
4:45
And Minnesota guys are as homers as many others.
4:49
But they were speaking the truth, because it was pretty butt-ugly overall.
4:53
Well, I think in what Jesse was talking about in his comment, was the game was so slow in the arena.
5:00
It was a place that doesn't hold a lot of hockey games.
5:03
Who knows how old those stanchions are that they have in there?
5:07
Because they were coming loose all the time.
5:09
There were long video reviews.
5:11
I think it was about a three-hour game.
5:14
It was, yes.
5:16
We're used to that two and a half hours.
5:18
It's pretty consistent.
5:20
You start at seven, you're done about 925, 930.
5:24
And then as we're going along, we started at nine, and it's 1130, it should be over.
5:30
I'm like, gosh, we still got quite a bit of the third period left.
5:33
All those stoppages with the glass, and they were saying the ice is soft.
5:38
That's one thing.
5:39
But North Dakota had to put up with that, too.
5:41
And I hear people complain about that arena.
5:43
Probably not the greatest place to play hockey.
5:45
But it's what you do with it.
5:47
And obviously, North Dakota came to play.
5:50
Well, and I think that style suits the way North Dakota wanted to play that game, too.
5:54
Slowing down Minnesota.
5:55
It's a place where you weren't going to be able to make great plays.
5:58
You had to make simple plays.
6:00
You had to throw pucks at the net.
6:02
And credit to Matt Robson for playing an outstanding game.
6:05
He didn't give up too much to the opponent.
6:09
He froze a lot of pucks.
6:10
He saw through a lot of traffic.
6:14
He proved why he's leading the goaltending race right now.
6:17
Yeah, Robson is doing well.
6:20
I have a feeling, I guess we'll have to wait and see.
6:23
If he does well Friday night against Mankato, like you said, or you've heard Matsuko say, he would probably play the following Saturday, the next night.
6:32
So we'll have to wait and see.
6:33
But like you're saying, he was the only one who showed up at all this past Saturday.
6:39
Yeah, and it was another rough game for the defensemen.
6:42
The defensemen have been taking quite a few penalties for Minnesota so far.
6:46
And Bob Matsuko is down holding back and he punches.
6:50
He said that the young defensemen in the roster, I think Stocker and Denman will probably get in this weekend.
6:58
And some of the guys who are taking penalties are going to have to sit out a game because when you take penalties and the coaches are getting on you about taking penalties and you continue to do it, eventually there's going to be a consequence and there's going to be some discipline handed out and we'll see how everybody responds.
7:16
And a coach is not going to get on you for taking a smart penalty, but it's just these dumb penalties that just catch you every time.
7:24
Well, it's the penalties that are behind the play that don't really impact anything.
7:28
It's the penalties where you get caught late in a shift, you stop moving your feet, you start using your stick.
7:35
Those are the things that are going to get coaches upset and frustrated.
7:40
If you're hooking a guy all the way to the net because you're in a puck race and you take him down so he doesn't get a scoring chance, that's probably a good penalty.
7:48
If you're losing a wall battle and the guy's walking it up the wall and you get a hook or interference, that's not a good penalty.
7:56
So it's something these guys need to learn from.
7:59
I know after the first series, a lot of the guys were saying that's part of the adjustment from summer hockey to live action, is changing your angles, changing your effort.
8:10
And I think having the two exhibition games and the two week layoff maybe contribute to that.
8:15
You saw in the third period, probably some tired legs and guys who weren't used to battling at that high level.
8:21
I think if they would have played another game, you would have seen a better effort from the Gophers.
8:26
But just jumping into that pace, you could tell they were behind.
8:30
Yeah, you definitely could.
8:32
Friday afternoon, I thought I d have a little fun and say, put up a little poll on Twitter and say, hey, who's going to get a five-minute major this weekend?
8:40
North Dakota?
8:41
Minnesota?
8:43
Both.
8:44
And I think a two-game series, that tends to happen.
8:49
But the GPL followers are right on the button.
8:52
The majority of them picked that both teams are going to get a five-minute major.
8:56
And it seems like it happens a lot with North Dakota.
8:59
But there was exactly that.
9:00
Both teams had a five-minute major.
9:02
I didn't see them.
9:03
Didn't see replays.
9:04
I don't know the legitimacy of them.
9:05
I don't care.
9:07
I just love that more kids are sitting in this in-band again.
9:12
Well, I think it's an emphasis in college hockey.
9:14
Anything that's close.
9:16
I didn't think the mismatch one was a particularly egregious check, but it was from behind.
9:23
It was intentional.
9:24
Rossini, same deal.
9:26
These are penalties that are going to get called in college hockey.
9:29
If you're taking a guy somewhere along the wall or the boards, you've got to slow up if you see the numbers.
9:36
You definitely can't accelerate in or extend your arms after contact.
9:41
That's just asking for five minutes.
9:44
It is.
9:46
I guess Rossini won't be able to play this at least Friday.
9:51
As he seems to be one of those guys that are in and out anyway, I'm guessing he may not be playing anyway this Friday.
9:57
Yeah, with two five-minute checking from behind penalties, he's going to get a game to watch.
10:04
And even if he had to or not, I think he might get a couple of games to watch.
10:09
We just can't have that.
10:10
Well, and Motska wants to get a look at Denman and Stucker.
10:16
Denman's one of the older guys that he brought in who did pretty well in his look with Cedar Rapids and the USHL.
10:23
And he's got a little look on Power Play time and practice.
10:26
I think that's an area that they're looking to improve.
10:30
So he'll get a look this weekend at that.
10:32
If you're listening live, you can always just tweet us.
10:36
You should use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll try to answer your questions.
10:39
And it looks like Mick Aletti has a couple of them for us tonight.
10:44
Pat wants to know who's the best team in the country, Veegs.
10:47
I thought going in the year was St.
10:49
Cloud State.
10:50
I know they dropped a game this past weekend, I think it's the North Eastern.
10:55
But I think they're still a pretty talented team.
10:57
They've got great defensemen, they've got scoring up front.
11:00
They're goaltending, maybe he's a little hit and miss.
11:02
But I think they're the most talented team right now and we'll see.
11:07
I think one of the things that Bob Monska did there was he set up his schedule with a little bit easier start in order to kind of get up to speed.
11:14
And I think that's something he's missing right now, as he admitted today.
11:18
But I like Stink Club quite a bit.
11:20
They've got a lot to work with there.
11:21
And obviously Duluth hasn't lost a game since playing Minnesota and they've jumped back up to the top of the country after sweeping Notre Dame at Notre Dame this past weekend.
11:33
So whatever Minnesota did, they certainly woke up the Duluth Bulldogs.
11:39
I think Duluth's a great team.
11:40
They've got really good defensemen, good goaltending.
11:45
I worry a little bit where they're going to get their goal scoring from up front.
11:49
I've seen Tufte have a couple of good games, but even their games here with Notre Dame, they didn't score a lot of goals.
11:56
They got one goal win 3-2, another one 3-1, I think.
12:00
So some tight games there.
12:02
They're going to have to find some scoring from somewhere.
12:05
Tufte looked really good on the power play from what I saw for highlight clips.
12:09
One time in the puck, he looked a little bit like a Bukestad out there.
12:13
But they're going to need scoring if they're going to compete.
12:18
I'm trying to look forward to it here on Twitter.
12:19
Didn't Pat have another question as well?
12:22
I think he asked how the Gophers are going to get back on track.
12:25
Oh, that's right.
12:25
Because he was reading your tweet.
12:27
That's right.
12:28
Yep.
12:29
And I think one of the things they're going to need to do is stay out of the penalty box.
12:33
Brad Schlossman brought up to me that typically St.
12:36
Cloud is one of the least penalized teams in the nation when Motsgow was coaching there.
12:42
You can tell that he's frustrated with all the penalties his team is taking.
12:46
This team needs to develop their young players.
12:49
And if they're killing penalties, it's going to be hard to do that.
12:52
They need to roll four lines and get some flow to their game and develop their defensemen a little bit.
12:57
And if they keep taking penalties, it's hard to do that.
13:00
So I think that's one thing they can do to get back on track.
13:04
The other thing is I just think they need to be smart about their dumps and play that hard game and really emphasize that.
13:12
They've got the pretty game down where they're coming up with the center.
13:15
If a team backs off and gives away the neutral zone pretty easily.
13:19
But when they have to just settle to chip it deep, that's something they need to work on.
13:26
Well, one thing I'm thinking is that the season start has been so weird.
13:33
Did they really lose it?
13:35
I mean, you know, you lose their track.
13:38
Yeah, lose it.
13:38
I mean, no, there hasn't been a track.
13:41
I mean, you play two games early and you play three games the rest of the month.
13:45
They've played three total games that mean something in 30 days or a month of October.
13:55
Back on track, there hasn't been a track.
13:57
If anything, it consistently starts this week where you're playing two games of the weekend, two games of the weekend, two games of the weekend, at least all the way until they get to their Christmas break.
14:08
Then it's solid after that, but it's kind of hard to get on the track when the track is all over the place in the first month of the year.
14:15
Yeah, I think we did see though a track of off and some production.
14:20
The last game is Dalu, they got off in the exhibitions, they still flash their skill.
14:27
I think there are some promising things to take out of that.
14:30
That's just they got off their game when they played North Dakota because I think they saw a different style and a different intensity that they weren't expecting.
14:38
Yeah, well, that's Pat.
14:40
Pat likes to stir the pot a little bit, so.
14:43
He does, but this is the same problem that we saw last year with this program is this team when they play that style, they have to respond and they have to be a little quicker and sure on pucks under the forecheck and sometimes they're going to have to go work and get it back.
15:00
Well, a team has got to be able to take a punch and that's one thing that this team is going to have to learn.
15:05
Hey, if you take a punch, you got to be able to get up and punch back.
15:09
And they always say everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
15:14
Well that's all learning though.
15:17
It is learning and this team has a lot of learning to do.
15:20
They've got a lot of freshmen they're going to count on over the course of the season and this defensive corps does need to take a step.
15:28
So it's another example against North Dakota about the steps they need to take.
15:33
Definitely, definitely.
15:35
One thing, we've got another little question here.
15:38
John Candels, he's always sent us questions.
15:40
Why so many neutral site games when the Big Ten and NCAA tournament games drew low?
15:47
Why not more games on campus?
15:49
And you know, the neutral site game, that was a North Dakota thing.
15:52
I don't really see Minnesota doing too many neutral site games.
15:55
It's usually the other teams doing it.
15:57
No, and it's usually something that's promotional, like when we saw the Madison Square Garden.
16:02
Yeah, that's something that the Big Ten is trying to do to grow the league's exposure.
16:06
It's not really Minnesota saying, hey, sign us up for that.
16:10
And it's been a road game for them anyway in the past.
16:13
I think the Michigan State game was a Michigan State home game.
16:17
So I think some of it can be good for college hockey.
16:20
I don't think it's great for Minnesota if they were to sacrifice a home game to play on a neutral site.
16:26
And the administration usually doesn't really allow it either.
16:30
Nope, I mean, they found a way to do the outdoor game at TCF, which I think most people are happy to have happen.
16:37
And I think the players really enjoyed it.
16:39
So I thought that was good for the program.
16:41
But I don't think you're going to see Minnesota freely giving up home games to play in these things, but especially when it's like an icebreaker event or the Hall of Fame game.
16:50
Those are extra games on the schedule for the teams playing in them.
16:53
So Minnesota is going to sign up for that every chance they get.
16:57
Definitely, definitely.
16:58
Well before, you know, you wanted to get into some of the new recruiting proposal coming up, so we're going to get into that just after this.
17:04
But first, we need to hear from our sponsor.
17:08
vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast.
17:13
Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey?
17:16
Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota hockey, from the pros to the minors to the collegiate teams to even the high school teams.
17:26
All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com.
17:31
They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures, like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sonmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey.
17:40
So make sure you check out those interviews.
17:42
It's a really great thing.
17:44
But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store.
17:48
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17:55
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18:02
So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey.
18:09
And just to push that VintageMNHockey a little bit more, you know, recently we've been seeing the, you know, the Herb Brooks videos of him.
18:20
You know, it's part of the main video this year, and you'd be seeing on Twitter and whatnot.
18:23
And you see those old home jerseys with the gold stripe down the shoulders, no maroon.
18:30
And I was tweeting today that I'd love to see the team wear that again.
18:34
They might have to do the M different because the M is different.
18:36
But I think I'd like to see that jersey again on the team there, Veegs.
18:42
Yeah, that might be good for some whites for the Gophers.
18:45
I really like their third uni this year with the old Gophers down the middle.
18:49
I think that's a classic uniform for the program.
18:52
So a lot of options when you're talking Gopher hockey.
18:55
Anytime they can throw a vintage goldie on there, too.
18:58
I like that.
19:00
Yeah, yeah.
19:01
Especially on the shoulder.
19:02
I'm not big on him being where the M should be.
19:06
Because we've seen those.
19:07
I think the women have worn those a few times.
19:10
They have.
19:11
Those jerseys are pretty fire.
19:14
It seems like Minnesota has either gone back to the old, old days or they've kind of done something new.
19:19
I would love to see them do some more of the 70s and 80s stuff.
19:23
And obviously, you can't really do...
19:27
The M has changed.
19:28
So I don't know if they could get away with doing a classic M unless it was for a special event.
19:33
But some of those jerseys are nice jerseys.
19:37
They're solid.
19:37
As long as they stay away from the dazzle fabric and some of those crazy panel designs they did, I'm good there.
19:45
Dazzle, is that the kind of the really bright, shiny ones?
19:49
Yes, that was really popular, I think, early 90s.
19:53
Yeah, they did a gold in that.
19:57
Yep, and they had like a black one, I think.
20:00
That was kind of dazzly.
20:02
Back when Gemini was making uniforms for everybody.
20:05
I think that was the black one that Casey Hankinson came up with.
20:09
Boy, that didn't go over well at all.
20:12
No, it's a bad look.
20:13
Moate said those suck, so if Moate says they suck, they sucked.
20:18
Maybe they can do it as a warm up jersey just for YouTube.
20:23
No, I just see those classic jerseys with the gold striped on the arm and I just thought, well, they look kind of nice and I've heard other fans talking about it and they've kind of stuck with the same white jerseys with the maroon shoulders for a long time.
20:37
So I kind of like to see something a little different.
20:41
One thing you wanted to talk about tonight is that there's quite a bit of recruiting proposal changes that are coming down the line here, Veegs.
20:51
And that could change things quite a bit, you know, from how coaches can contact players and definitely how players can contact schools.
21:00
Yeah, Matt Wellens did a great job digging into the recruiting changes that are being proposed.
21:07
I know Josh Fenton from the NCHC, he's their commissioner, was kind of leading one of these changes.
21:13
And there's representatives from every conference, an administrator and a coach.
21:18
They've got players that are helping out.
21:21
And the biggest thing that Wellens clarified in this is that with this new legislation, no player is going to be able to commit to a verbal offer until August 1st of their junior year.
21:33
So that means that the school can't offer it, a player can't accept it.
21:38
And if you see some kid tweet out, you know, I'm thankful to announce that I'm committing somewhere before the August 1st of his junior year, something's fishy there.
21:49
So I think that's great for college hockey if this comes to fruition.
21:53
It also doesn't allow any contact until January 1st of the sophomore year.
21:58
And so what this means is the player can't reach out to the coaches, the coaches can't reach out to the players.
22:03
So they can't even before that time, they can't kind of come to an understanding that there's a spot for them there.
22:10
And it's that timing so that kids can talk to coaches ahead of the major junior drafts, which happen typically the summer after their sophomore year.
22:20
So it's timing there to give them a chance to get in the year of kids.
22:24
But I think this will be great for college sports.
22:26
You won't have the 14 and 15 year old kids committing anywhere.
22:30
You know, they tried to get this legislation in last year, but they still allowed players to initiate contact.
22:37
What was happening then is the player would initiate contact, the school would make an offer, and the kid would accept before he even had a chance to do official visits or be communicated to from other coaches.
22:49
So these are big changes coming.
22:51
So what are the rules now?
22:52
When can a coach reach out to a player under the current rules?
22:57
I think under the current rules, it's January 1st or sophomore year.
23:00
Coaches can reach out and talk to players.
23:02
So that part kind of stays the same.
23:04
It's really kind of locking down the other side, isn't it?
23:08
Well, it's locking down the other side and preventing verbal offers from happening until that junior year.
23:16
So there's two big things.
23:17
And I think the biggest thing is not allowing any verbal offers until August 1st of the junior year.
23:24
Yeah, I didn't notice you wrote that down as a big note.
23:27
Yeah.
23:27
I mean, are you there, Vegoe?
23:33
Vegoe?
23:34
Don't tell me we just lost you, Vegoe.
23:37
Oh, boy.
23:40
Completely just lost Vegoe there, didn't we?
23:44
Well, that's not good, because you're talking about some important stuff there.
23:51
Yeah, you're completely silent now, Vegoe.
23:54
I cannot hear you at all.
23:57
And I'm not getting that same note I was getting earlier.
24:01
This is strange.
24:01
Skype is acting really strange for us tonight, folks.
24:04
It's just the way it is, unfortunately.
24:08
Mote was kind of wondering, you know, how about those gold domes from the football team?
24:13
He thought I'd get a little too close to Notre Dame.
24:16
And I would agree.
24:17
I'm not big on those gold domes, Mote.
24:21
Yes, there's no tornado here in lovely Western Carver County.
24:27
And there's Vegoe.
24:28
Let's give us another try.
24:29
There you are.
24:30
We just lost you there for a second.
24:32
That's so strange.
24:33
I tell you, ever since Microsoft took over for Skype, it's just not the same.
24:40
Gremlins everywhere.
24:41
Hey, that's okay.
24:43
We try to roll with it.
24:45
We are not a professional podcast.
24:47
We're just a bunch of guys just trying to have fun and try to do this as cheaply as possible, all through software and not all these lovely microphones and all this huge, expensive equipment.
24:58
So well, did you have any more thoughts?
25:03
Well, just I think it's going to be good for all sports because this doesn't apply to just hockey.
25:08
It's going to apply to football and basketball as well.
25:12
And for football, they're not going to be able to initiate contact until June 15th after the sophomore season.
25:19
So for them, it's going to curb it as well.
25:21
So between June 15th of the sophomore year and August 1st of the junior year, that's when those sports are going to get to talk to players.
25:28
And I just think it's going to be good for everybody to kind of walk back that recruiting timeline and get everything going later.
25:37
Well, while we were having some technical difficulties, I read off Mote's little thought about having, you know, Mote was thinking maybe gold helmets similar to Notre Dame, like kind of like the football team did.
25:48
And I'm kind of not for that at all.
25:52
And then Thompson, of course, brought up what happened.
25:55
What?
25:55
But boy, almost 20 years ago now, not quite 20 years ago, but I remember early in the season, the early 2000s, they went up to St.
26:04
Claude and they wore maroon helmets.
26:07
And that lasted one weekend.
26:08
They never brought the maroon helmets back again.
26:12
So well, whatever, whatever the kids like is, I think what we'll see at some point.
26:16
So well, the thing is, it does come down to cost because equipment is not not excuse me, not cheap.
26:24
And I've always kind of wondered, you know, obviously football programs make the big money.
26:28
But when the University of Minnesota has three different helmets, that cannot be cheap, can it?
26:33
When you're buying over 100 helmets.
26:36
Yeah, especially for football, like those helmets aren't cheap.
26:39
No, those are 250 to 300 piece, I think.
26:42
So and then how much for the customization of that kind of gold and reflection?
26:48
I mean, I just and plus, you know, they've got three game helmets.
26:52
I'm sure they've got practice helmets, which are probably cheaper.
26:55
But still, that's that's a lot of dough.
26:59
And, you know, football can get where it can get away with it because they bring in a lot more money.
27:03
It's not something you're going to see a lot in hockey.
27:05
You're just not.
27:07
No, it's not.
27:08
And I saw LSU do a special paint on their football helmets a couple of weeks ago for their forgotten team from 1918 that got ready to fight in the war.
27:21
And the paint they used on those helmets was $1,500 a gallon.
27:26
Oh my gosh.
27:27
Each helmet needed about four coats of paint to get the effect they're looking for.
27:32
Are you kidding me?
27:33
Pretty amazing.
27:35
Wow.
27:36
That is...
27:40
That is a...
27:41
It's a different world.
27:44
As you can see, what was just happening in Maryland this week.
27:47
Oh, yeah.
27:48
That whole thing has become a bit of trouble.
27:51
So we'll have to see.
27:53
Hammy.
27:55
Are you there?
27:56
We're trying to add Hammy here.
27:59
Or I am trying to add Hammy.
28:00
We'll see.
28:00
Maybe you muted him too.
28:02
Maybe I did.
28:03
It says that he's...
28:04
Well, we'll try to add.
28:06
We'll try to add Hammy here.
28:09
We'll see if it works to get him in on the discussion.
28:12
So...
28:15
The one thing I was interested about this recruiting thing is if this legislation comes in April when they vote on it, you know, how soon does it get put in place?
28:25
As we saw with Wisconsin, you know, they added Nick Pierre from Hill Murray just before this last proposal went into effect.
28:35
So I wonder if we'll see the same thing as this new one comes up.
28:39
You know, if it happens where, you know, in April, you know, if you're under 16 and you're thinking you want to commit somewhere, you might sign your name somewhere, you know, pretty quick and try to get in there and get a spot before you have to wait it another couple of years.
28:57
A lot of weird things.
28:59
A lot of weird things.
28:59
And we've been trying to get something like this to happen for a long time.
29:04
And it's tough.
29:06
I mean, you know, because a lot of the smaller schools don't want to do that.
29:11
And Fenn acknowledges that when he talked to Wellens.
29:14
He said, you know, we weren't looking for all 60 coaches to be on board with this.
29:19
You know, we're looking for a majority to be on board with this and get enough votes to get it passed.
29:24
Because I think there's a lot of coaches who would want this passed.
29:29
You know, they want to push back recruiting as much as they can.
29:32
Yeah, yeah.
29:33
Hammeh, are you there?
29:35
I am on.
29:36
There he is.
29:37
How are you doing, Hammeh?
29:38
Not too bad.
29:39
Sorry I'm late.
29:39
No, it's quite all right.
29:41
We've had quite a bit of technical difficulties tonight anyway.
29:44
So you haven't...
29:45
Yeah, the Thursday night switch is a little harder for me.
29:51
Yeah, well, you know, with Halloween last night, I know, Veegs, you were probably busy pretty much most of the night.
29:56
Yeah, kid stuff.
29:57
We could have gone at 11.
30:01
I might have still been on at 11.05.
30:03
That would have been too late.
30:05
I would have messed with Hammy's workout.
30:06
Yeah, exactly.
30:07
You messed with Hammy's workout.
30:09
Well, Hammy, we've kind of covered quite a bit of things, but let's just get your quick thoughts on that lovely game that just happened against the Fighting Hawks on Saturday.
30:19
Not good.
30:20
Yeah, it's a whole lot of travel for a whole lot of nothing, right?
30:24
Exactly.
30:26
You know, I don't know.
30:27
I mean, I think it's one of those things where it's early season with a lot of new things going on, and it's never going to be a straight-line improvement from day one to the end of the year.
30:39
I mean, you're going to have your dips throughout the year, and unfortunately, it's pretty tough to have one against a pretty big rival and kind of a hyped-up set of circumstances.
30:50
And we know that defensively, especially, that that was the one thing that we've all kind of touched on as being the one big question mark.
30:59
And I think when you see another team do a pretty good job pressuring, that's where it kind of comes to light.
31:06
So you just got to hope that the guys start to improve and learn from these kinds of experiences.
31:12
Well, one thing we were kind of saying is that they just haven't had much to go on.
31:20
And not many game plays.
31:22
And that's kind of what, you know, Monsco wants.
31:25
Get some games in here, you know.
31:27
These exhibitions are one thing, but we need to get them to play.
31:29
And then when they, and then Saturday night, they came out and they played sort of a lot like last year's team that kind of, you know, the reason I talked about it was just, there was nothing there at times.
31:39
Yeah.
31:39
I mean, I think it's, you know, they were kind of happy that they got a lot of practices in, right?
31:45
But then all of a sudden it becomes, well, we need to play more games.
31:48
And it's like, well, what do you want?
31:49
You know what I mean?
31:50
It's kind of like, you can't have the best of both worlds and have it be one way or when it works for you.
31:56
And then, you know, then we haven't played enough games or whatever.
31:59
So I don't know if I totally agree with some other rationale at times, but I understand it's a new season with a new coaching staff and a lot of things that are pretty brand new to everybody.
32:10
And so I kind of give them a pass on these things.
32:13
And let's be honest, we've seen a lot of successful teams over the years that didn't start the greatest out of the gates.
32:20
I mean, not talking us specifically, but just in general in college hockey.
32:24
And some teams do pretty well by the end of the season.
32:27
So you just got to hope that they learn as we go and they improve.
32:32
And really, Veegs, it's, you know, even, and Amatsko said this earlier, talk to me in December or maybe even January, because that's really when he wants to get this team going.
32:43
You don't even really know what your lineup is going to look like for the first couple of weeks.
32:47
You know, you can have some guesses here and there, but it's going to take some time under, some adversity.
32:52
And that's something you can't really simulate in practice.
32:55
You can have all the practices you want, but until you're in a faceoff circle with Wright Gardner, you know, with a man or two to go and you need to win it and take possession and get down the ice, you know, you can't replicate that.
33:06
Yeah.
33:07
Yeah.
33:07
Well, and I think the other thing that's kind of bothered me a little bit is the way that some of the fans reacted on GPL.
33:13
And to be honest with you, I was just kind of like, man, I don't know if I can deal with this.
33:18
You got to expect it though.
33:19
I might have to limit myself to certain sections of the board because the game, you know, the game threads and whatever are just like, oh my God.
33:27
You know, I mean, I just think that it gets to be a little bit overboard.
33:31
I mean, you can't expect perfection every game.
33:34
And it was like I was saying to some people, I would love to show up to these people's work, you know, day after day after day and see them like at their jobs and saying, you know what, you're not bringing your A game today.
33:46
What the hell?
33:48
Because I can guarantee you we all don't bring our A game every single day to work or whatever we do in this world.
33:54
And to have fans think that, you know, 18 to 22 year old guys are going to be doing it when we don't see NHL players doing it, let alone college players.
34:03
It just gets to be a little ridiculous.
34:05
Well, I think Bruce Boudreau said something interesting about coaching in the NHL is, you know, you don't know who your players that are going each night until you play those first couple of shifts.
34:15
And, you know, there's a reason why Nick Foligno and Eric Farrer don't typically play in the extra period.
34:22
But the other night, Boudreau threw them out there and they scored.
34:25
Yeah.
34:26
You playing a little guitar for us there, Hammeh?
34:29
No, that was a speaker that came out, sorry.
34:32
We thought you were going to just start playing some guitar for us and rock us out.
34:37
No, no, no.
34:38
I'm being good.
34:40
Well, one thing we've got this weekend is a great rivalry that's kind of built over the last 20 years.
34:46
They didn't play last year, but Minnesota State, Mankato Mavericks are coming to town and then we're going down to Mankato on Saturday night.
34:55
And Veegs, this is a good Mavericks team and I'm thinking the speed limit might even go up more this weekend than it has this past weekend.
35:05
Yeah, I think one of the things Minnesota State has is a little bit more scoring depth than North Dakota brought out last weekend.
35:13
Mike Hastings has done a great job getting guys to delay their enrollment.
35:17
He's recruited some older players and he's got a great mix of Fords who can score right now.
35:22
You look at that power play and how well it did against North Dakota two weekends ago.
35:27
They're a dangerous team to play against.
35:31
And Hammey Mankato, I think Hastings was a great hire.
35:36
I mean, he's done a fantastic job there.
35:40
Yeah, I mean, he's been a successful coach wherever he's gone.
35:43
He obviously had a lot of success in the USHL.
35:45
And so he definitely knows how to build a team and he knows how to coach.
35:50
So you have to give him props.
35:52
And I think that's a good fit for him down there.
35:55
It'll be interesting if someday he gets plucked away, because I don't know that I see a guy like that being a career lifer at that place.
36:03
But nonetheless, he certainly has had a lot of success so far.
36:07
And I guess it's not shocking when you look at his background, and like I said, in the USHL.
36:13
Well, he was a favorite, even though he was only here one year, quite a while ago now.
36:18
But I'm personally a big fan of Hastings.
36:22
He's a great guy.
36:24
He's definitely an old school hockey guy too, Veegs.
36:29
A lot of personality stuff we didn't really see out of our current coach, or not our current coach, but our former coach, Mr.
36:36
Lucia.
36:37
Hastings is just kind of an old school guy.
36:42
Yeah, he coached in the USHL for a long time, and he came to Minnesota and wasn't here very long to share his character, but you could just tell he wanted to be a head coach as soon as he could.
36:53
And he took that opportunity down for Minnesota State, and he's run with it.
36:59
I know that other people have made runs to try to hire him away, and the school's answered the call and up to his salary, and he's got a nice deal down there, and so do his assistant coaches.
37:10
And the only thing they don't have is success in the NCAA Tournament.
37:13
I mean, they've had some really good teams finish up the year.
37:17
I believe they've even been a number one seed a few times, haven't they, Veegs?
37:22
Being in the WCHA has been pretty good for them.
37:25
They've got a nice run a couple times, but I don't know if they would make those same kind of runs if they were playing teams in the NCHC or the Big Ten last year.
37:35
So I think it's worked out well for them.
37:37
You wouldn't see a situation where three Minnesota teams could win a conference title in the same year, but now you can.
37:44
Yeah, that's definitely true.
37:47
And maybe this kind of WCHA and college hockey shift helped the school like a man, Cade O'Hammey, because sure, they might not do as good if they were in the old WCHA or some other league, but it has slowly allowed them to build up, build up, build up.
38:04
And now, they're pretty much on par with most of the rest of the schools around here.
38:10
Well, I think it comes down, I mean, certainly, it gives them an opportunity to be a winner.
38:15
And, you know, it helps market to players, you know, opportunities to play important games.
38:22
But I think the one thing you do have to wonder is, you kind of want the rest of your league to kind of rise up with you.
38:29
Because I think when you talk about NCAAs, certainly, you want to feel like you've been tested throughout the year.
38:35
And if, you know, you can be great in your own league, but if your own league isn't necessarily got a lot of good teams in it, maybe you're not quite prepared, you know, or battle tested for those kinds of more important games when you get towards the end of the season.
38:48
And that could certainly be a part of the issue for them, it's hard to say.
38:52
But, you know, they have had opportunities and they just haven't capitalized when they get to the end of the season.
39:00
Veegs, keys to the weekend for Minnesota.
39:02
You obviously already kind of touched on power play, but it seems like so far, whether if it's a regular season game or an exhibition game, Minnesota is either, you know, feeding really well or starving, you know, seven goals or one goal.
39:18
We could use the seven goals more often, but they probably need a little more consistency here on the offense.
39:23
Yeah, I think you want to see them drive possession a little bit better, you know, whether it's breaking out cleanly, something they didn't really do very well against North Dakota, or just maintaining their ground game a little bit more in the offensive zone.
39:38
I was really surprised how they were able to do that to Minnesota Duluth in the second game of their series.
39:44
A little bit easier on the big ice, I think, for Minnesota to do that.
39:48
But it's going to be a big challenge for them against Minnesota State because they're going to be facing a lot of scoring depth.
39:53
So there's not going to be a lot of places to hide out there.
39:57
The other thing to watch is the discipline.
39:59
We've seen the defensemen take a lot of penalties so far this season.
40:03
That's something they're going to have to get away from if they're going to be successful.
40:08
Hammeh, what do you think in this weekend?
40:09
You think both home teams are going to win?
40:13
That's kind of what I'm leaning towards.
40:14
I also kind of have the feeling that it's going to be more of an open skating kind of a game.
40:19
I'd be a little surprised if it's not a little bit more high scoring.
40:22
I don't know that I see it being a real checking affair.
40:25
I mean, of course, like I said, you kind of never know early in the season what you might get.
40:30
But I think it's more likely going to be kind of an up and down the rink offensive weekend.
40:36
So and that'd be obviously fun for the fans, especially if you're on the winning side, of course.
40:42
That's kind of what I would expect.
40:44
But I hope the guys are certainly energized, feeling a little bit frustrated from this last weekend.
40:52
And they bring a little bit better performance both nights.
40:57
I know that Scott Reedy will probably be on the line up this weekend.
41:00
So one other thing will be to watch who gets to play center.
41:04
You know, Sammy Walker is a name who might get to play there.
41:07
It'd be nice for him to get that opportunity on Friday night on the big ice where there's a little bit more room.
41:13
I think you put a little guy like that in a small rink and it's a tougher place to make the adjustment.
41:18
And, you know, obviously Minnesota State, they did update their rink about five years ago now.
41:24
So are they full NHL or are they sort of a hybrid?
41:27
I can't quite remember.
41:28
I think it's a hybrid rink.
41:29
Yeah.
41:30
So it's not quite as small, but it's not the Olympic size that they had previously to that.
41:35
Veegs, are you heading down to any of the games this weekend?
41:39
I'll be there Friday night, taking the action at 3M at Mereuchi.
41:43
And I will not be able to make it tomorrow night.
41:46
The girlfriend has something that we're doing tomorrow night on my birthday, so.
41:52
Getting old here.
41:53
But I am heading to make it.
41:54
You only turned 61, Stu.
41:55
Oh, jeez.
41:58
I do know that Hammy is older than me, and Hammy just turned something, something.
42:02
No, I don't want to talk about that.
42:06
I don't know what the something, something is, but I know what it's older than me, so we'll just go with that.
42:12
But I am heading to Mankato on Saturday, which it's always a fun fun to head down there.
42:18
Paul Allen has been running there doing their PR and when boy, probably longer than anybody, because I know maybe back to the 90s.
42:27
So he does a great job.
42:29
He does.
42:30
And he's he's like I said, he's made a great job of this.
42:37
Whereas, you know, Minnesota would kind of run through these guys, you know, every three or four years, we get a new one.
42:42
Not at Mankato.
42:42
It's the same guy, you know, same thing with St.
42:44
Cloud, Duluth and for a while, you know, North Dakota even until recently.
42:49
So it's kind of one thing that Minnesota doesn't be able to hang on to these guys, as well as some of these other local schools.
42:56
So well, there's a lot of pressure in the big pearl market of the Twin Cities.
43:01
That is true.
43:02
That is true.
43:03
We'll have to.
43:05
Oh, great.
43:05
Deadwood's going off, going after me.
43:07
Need some Jarrett Turrell and maybe some AARP for my birthday.
43:12
Yeah, I don't think so.
43:14
But I'm not even sure what I'm doing tomorrow night.
43:17
I think we might be going to a concert and I don't know.
43:20
And we'll have to wait and see.
43:23
Is this like a surprise thing?
43:25
Sort of.
43:25
And I'm just going to go with it.
43:27
It's fine.
43:28
Just make sure you have some gin and tonics.
43:30
I may have to.
43:35
Veegs, are you working on anything for the Athletic right now?
43:38
Yeah, I'm going to be looking a little bit about the battle level that's been challenging this program for the last couple of games they've played, specifically the North Dakota series here and then Penn State last year.
43:50
What they need to do to change that up.
43:52
Yeah, and even I wouldn't say just last couple of games.
43:54
It's definitely, I'd say last couple of years.
43:57
It's like feast or famine.
43:58
It seems like the battle level.
44:01
And we could order that next week, this week?
44:04
Tomorrow.
44:05
Tomorrow.
44:05
There you go.
44:05
Look for tomorrow.
44:06
Yeah.
44:08
Hammy, you got any last thoughts on your short little stint up with us tonight?
44:13
Yeah.
44:13
Are we going back to Wednesdays?
44:15
Yes.
44:16
Okay.
44:17
Then I'll be in much better shape and performance.
44:20
I think we're solid Wednesdays now until the holiday break.
44:24
So that'll be, that's good for everyone.
44:27
We'll have to.
44:28
Sorry about that.
44:29
But you know, like I said, sometimes we've got to make adjustments.
44:31
I know it hasn't quite worked for you, Hammy.
44:33
But no, that's the big deal.
44:35
As long as everybody's, as long as we're covered, right?
44:37
Yeah, exactly.
44:38
As long as we're covered.
44:40
I'm sure you were out last night anyway, Hammy, for Halloween.
44:44
No, I behaved this year.
44:45
I was a good boy.
44:47
Compared to last year?
44:50
I don't even remember what I did last year, to be honest with you.
44:53
Maybe that's why I didn't.
44:54
I'm a good boy, right?
44:55
I don't remember.
44:56
There you go.
44:58
Remember, you can follow Hammy on Twitter, at Hammy Hockey, and you can follow Vegoe on Twitter, at eVegoe.
45:06
You can see his writing on GPL and, of course, at The Athletic.
45:10
For those of you listening live, we'll have a little bit over time coming up, but for the rest of you, we'll be back next week to recap the Mavericks game, and then, boy, we're previewing, boy, is it St.
45:21
Lawrence?
45:24
Wisconsin.
45:25
Wisconsin.
45:25
Oh, then it's St.
45:26
Lawrence.
45:26
Hi, well, there we go.
45:28
We got the badges.
45:29
We'll be back next week on the regular scheduled night, Wednesday.
45:33
Thanks for listening.
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